Stranger No More
by lostluv
Summary: Jason Morgan has always been a stranger to his son. He can't relate to anyone except the one other boy he helped raise Now he needs Michael's help to become the father he needs to be. But when Michael starts to help, can Jason face it?
1. The Blue Eyes that Haunt Me

**He stood at the end of the driveway, looking beyond the windows of the house. He saw him sitting on the couch, the back of his head facing the opposite way. It was so distinct, the blonde standing out from the brunettes. He watched as the little boy stood up and all of a sudden snapped his head around. Their eyes met and before he could grab attention to himself, he ran back to his bike at the end of the driveway. **

**He rode in the darkness, the night seemed endless. All he could think about was the blue eyes that had stared at him. They haunted him every night before he went to bed. Every time he closed his eyes, they were the nightmares that filled his head. All he could think about was those blue eyes. When he looked in a mirror, the reflection he saw back was the blue eyes of his son. **

**Drowning his sorrows at Jake's that night was a mistake. He took one beer and then another, but the pain didn't melt away. Nobody talked to him and he didn't bother to strike conversation, fearing his anger would come out. He reached into his wallet, and took out the picture that finally made him smile. The blue eyes once again reflected back at him and finally the tears fell. He cried and finally ran out of the bar with the fear that somebody had seen him unravel.**

**His tears had finally gone and he was scared for the first time in awhile. He thought about one person. Jake Spencer was the boy he dreamed about and the boy he wished was never there. He couldn't go near his son and that was the worst feeling a father could have. He couldn't be a true father to a tiny boy he loved so much and that picture just reminded him of his failure. His 3rd**** birthday was coming up soon and so much time had been lost. He needed a friend to lean on and not just any friend. **

**He drove to the Jack's home that night and pulled up to the gate. He walked to the door and went right in, as if it was his own home. He knew only Michael would be home since Carly and Jax were at work, Morgan was at the Yankees game with Sonny and Josslyn was with Bobbie. He walked right to Michael's room and burst the door open. Michael was sitting on his bed doing homework and before he issued one word, Jason said his. Jason said " I have a son and I need your help." **


	2. Forgetting What Truly Matters

Jason's Pov:

I burst into Michael's room and let the words fall from my mouth without thinking about what I was saying. Michael stared up at me and shocked me with the hug he gave me. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up the room was dark and empty just like my heart was. I walked out of the room and down the stairs only to find myself in the middle of the Jacks' family game night. I said my hellos and quickly ran at the door to hop onto my get away mobile. I went home and cried myself to sleep with a little help from the Bud Lights in the fridge and the punching bag in my gym. That night I tossed and turned in the bed only to realize that this is where my son was created. I stood up and went to the closet where I opened the trap door that held my secrets. Inside was the pictures of Monica and Alan, Emily, Grandmother Lila and the family I had yet to claim. There was the sonogram of my boy that she had sent me and the first Christmas card with him sitting in a Christmas present box. There was the picture from his first day at General Hospital Daycare and the picture of when he went with his "daddy" to the playground. Finally, there was the picture of the four of us together. I asked Spinelli to take it one night and since that night I had never looked at it again. The painful memory of the happiness that haunted me was just too much. I took that box down the stairs and tossed it into the bright fire that illuminated the living room. Sparks flew from the fire and met with the tears that were falling down my face. I went to the closet just one more time and pulled out the little toy motorcycle that I had bought for my son. The frame was black and had a silver stripe with his name written in the darkest shad of blue that I had ever seen. I put my thumb across the name "Jacob Martin Morgan" and realized that this motorcycle was just another part of my big empty heart.


	3. The Truth Can be A Scary Thing

**Michael's POV:**

**Uncle Jason didn't make sense that night. He babbled on about a son he had and I was clueless once again in this world just like I had been when I came out of my coma. I thought hard about it and decided not to go to Mom and Jax about it. Instead I decided to go to the man that had first relinquished this information to me, so I started my little sports car and sped towards Harborwiew Towers with determination on my mind. I went into the towers and stood for the elevator, but the impatience crept over me and I raced towards the stairs. I arrived at Penthouse 2 out of breath, but I walked right in as if I owned the place. Sitting in front of me was a pathetic man that I thought could not be Jason Morgan. His face was streaked with tears, eyes swollen and bloody knuckles which I could see came from the hole on the right of the fireplace. He looked a mess and when he finally had the courage to look at me in the eyes, I saw the stone blue that looked back and saw that they were lacking something. We stood in silence and I stared into those deep blue eyes and finally realized something.**

_**Flashback:**_

_**I was at the hospital for one of my tests and I hated it. For the year I spent hooked up to monitors and endured surgeries and finally all that horrible physical therapy, I was done with hospitals. I was forced to come for a checkup with the great Dr. Drake and I was getting impatient. I tapped my foot and stared at the clock until I finally grabbed my coat off the seat and went to the elevator. I wasn't watching where I was going and I bumped into this tiny kid that ran from nowhere. He fell and didn't cry. Instead he just stared and I saw the eyes that looked so familiar, but I could not place. I picked him up and he ran off without a word towards the nurse's station and I didn't look back.**_

**I pictured the boy in my mind and ran down his features from the blonde hair to the muscular body even for a little kid. I looked back at the man I thought I knew everything about and realized for once that I was wrong. I realized that there was something shining from the fire and I went over to find a black motorcycle with a name that I could barely read out. I saw the name Jacob written on it and realized that this was the boy that troubled my uncle day after day, month after month and year after year. I glanced at the man back on the couch and realized he was in his own world with his thoughts so I quietly slipped out the front door and headed towards the hospital. **

**I used Edward's parking spot right in the front and ran in all the way to the ninth floor. I sped out and smacked right into Robin, the person I had been looking for. She smiled at me and I asked about the little boy inquiring on who he belonged to. She answered with a familiar name and before she could ask why, I ran out the hospital doors with an agenda on my mind. I looked at the phonebook for an address and followed my GPS leading me right to the driveway. Knocking on the door, the brunette woman answered with the blonde little boy attached to her hip. I was speechless and finally she invited me in as I awaited for what happened next. **


	4. The Motorcycle that Leads to Everything

Elizabeth's POV:

I opened the door expecting the pizza guy but instead I looked directly at the head of a damaged boy. His face was filled with fury and his eyes spoke what he wanted to say minus the words. I let him in and he exploded like Lula had with me in the hospital those many months ago. My lips began to tremble and I started to cry but he yelled at me, saying I had no right to cry. He asked me where the boy was and I knew he was talking about Jake. Why else would Michael Corinthos be here to see one of my sons? I led him upstairs to the playroom and he walked right in through the door frame, standing tall like his uncle who I loved. He went right up to my son, picked him up and said "Hi Jakey, I'm Michael", and finally for the first time that Michael Corinthos walked through my door, I smiled.

Michael's POV:

I asked Elizabeth to leave me with Jake upstairs for a moment and she left the room, but not before she gave me the first smile I had seen since I got there. I just watched him play and finally I noticed the collection of motorcycles in the corner. Besides the eyes and hair that the boy had, there was the connection of motorcycles between his father and him. I decided to leave the boy, but not without giving him a hug (which was weird and surprised for me). I left and as I was walking down the stairs, I put my hand in my pocket and felt something. I took out the tiny motorcycle with the name Jacob on it that I had taken from Jason's house and almost doubled back to give it to his son, but first I wanted to explain to the woman awaiting for me downstairs.

Elizabeth's POV:

I heard him descending down the stairs and my heart started to race. He came right up to me and handed me something tiny. I looked at the item in my hand and realized it was a motorcycle that looked like Jason's. I loked closer and so an almost unreadable name. I pieced together the letters and realized it said "Jacob Martin Morgan". Finally looking at it made me realize that Jason was hurting badly and Michael was the messenger who was sent to me to deliver the heartbreaking message. I decided that I needed to do something about it and realized that looking at the 17 year old in front of me that I knew exactly what I could do. It required a motorcycle, the boy standing in front of me and the boy that I could hear making motorcycle noises upstairs.


	5. Snapshots that Give Me Insight

Jason's POV

I wondered where Michael was with the food I asked him to pick up from Kelly's on the way over. I called him and it rang several times before finally going to voicemail where I left an angry message telling him to get over. I had never been mad at Michael before this, but now since I let it slip to him that I had a son, I had been harsher with him for reasons that were even unknown to me. My attitude changed as soon as I saw him and words fell from my mouth like the night I told him my secret. I called his phone again and this time it went straight to voicemail. In frustration, I threw the phone at the stone fireplace and it shattered to pieces just like my heart. I started cleaning up the pieces and throwing them in the trash bin when I heard a key enter the lock of the door. Michael walked in with a bag of food in one hand and an envelope in the other. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because Michael said "Not until after dinner." I ate quickly, eating my burger and fries in record time while Michael ate patiently. I was so tense that I decided to clean my gun to calm my nerves and wait for Michael to finish. I sat at the desk, rubbing the barrel with a cloth, I stole glances at Michael and a couple of times, I caught him looking at me. I heard the fork fall down onto the plate, signaling he was done with his food and when he came back from cleaning the plates, I was already seated on the couch. He picked up the envelope, and slowly opened it, taking out papers that were revealed to be pictures. I didn't understand until I saw my son in almost every single one of them.

Michael's POV

I took out the 20 pictures and laid them on the coffee table in front of us. Everyone was taken on a different day over the course of the last 2 weeks since I had first gone to Elizabeth's that night. I would go there after school, lying to my mother and telling her that I was staying at school for extra help. I would go there and watch Jake, sometimes I interacted with him, but most of the time I watched him play on the floor with his motorcycles or trying to build the biggest block tower with his brother Cameron. In one of the pictures, I had put the camera on a timer and placed Jake on my lap and we smiled with the goofiest smile in the whole wide world. That was one of my favorite pictures, but I looked over at Jason and I saw him picking up my absolute favorite picture. I had sat on the floor, camera ready and called his name. I snapped the shot with him looking right into the camera lens, his bright blue eyes almost shining. Next to me, Jason was wiping the tears from his eyes as they splashed down on the table in front of us. I felt bad, but I'd finally shown him the truth

Jason's POV

My son was in the pictures right in front of me, but I couldn't face him even though it wasn't actually him in person. Throughout the pictures, I saw a happy boy and I didn't want to ruin that by becoming part of his life. The only problem was the fact that I knew my son was growing up without a father in his life. Lucky was gone from Jake's life and Sam was gone from mine. Lucky had left to go to Paris for an extended visit and Sam joined him 2 weeks later after we settled on being just friends. I was lonely and dangerous, my anger being taken out on the smallest things. I hated who I was and I didn't want to inflict my life on my son's. I surprised myself by gathering all the pictures in my hand and I shoved them into Michael's hands. I said "To get out and don't come back until I'm ready" in a voice I didn't recognize. Michael grabbed the envelope and shoved the pictures inside , but one fell to the floor and Michael didn't notice. He grabbed his jacket and ran out the door. I picked up the paper that had fallen and saw it was the picture of my son and Michael together. The cousins looked alike and I finally realized that maybe I couldn't look at Michael because he reminded me so much of my boy.


	6. Another Child Gives Me A Lesson

JASON'S POV

I was laying on my bed and it had been a week since he had brought the photographs to me and I hadn't seen him since. I didn't go to Carly's house for dinner on Tuesday like I have since Josslyn was born and I avoided places where he might be such as Kelly's and Sonny's house. I had called Sonny and requested a couple of weeks off and he gave it to me without asking. That's what I liked about Sonny; he never asked and I didn't bother to tell him. The one picture that Michael had left was in the box in the closet with some other private things and I hadn't looked at it with the fear of breaking down. I had taken all the pictures of my son and the woman I loved and put them in that box. I had Spinelli buy a lock for it and only he had the combination, so I didn't feel the urge to look at the contents inside. I looked at the clock next to my bed and it read only 4:53 pm. I sighed and decided that my life needed to move on. It was Tuesday, so I decided to go to dinner at Carly's just for the sake of my sanity.

Dinner was loud and I almost couldn't take it. I put a forced smile on my face that began to hurt my jaw and ate silently the chicken that was in front of me. Everybody was so busy talking that I thought I was the only one who heard Josslyn crying upstairs. I told Carly that I would get her and she told me I was being such a great godparent. I walked up the stairs to the baby's room and when I went inside, she was sitting up in her crib. As soon as she saw me, she smiled and lifted her arms up. That was the first time that night that the smile wasn't forced and I gladly picked up my goddaughter and brought her downstairs.

We were done with dinner and the adults were talking in the living room. I was discussing with Carly about Morgan and Molly's science project when we heard a loud noise from outside. I rushed outside, gun out and ready to shoot when I stumbled upon Morgan and his motor scooter in a pile. I lifted him up and put the gun away and asked him if he was ok. He tried to shake it off, but I knew from the moment I saw is wrist that it was broken. Jax and Carly rushed outside and immediately started fussing, but Morgan being the brave kid he was asked if he would need a cast. Michael came out from the house with the keys to the car and he, Morgan, Carly and Jax got in the car leaving me to watch over Josslyn. I was relieved to be alone and in quiet, but it was short-lived as I head Josslyn crying inside. I sighed and walked in, shutting the door tightly behind me.

I must have dozed off because I woke up to the sound of someone knocking at the door. On the way to see who it was, I checked on Joss who I saw still sleeping peacefully in the bassinet. I opened the door and to my surprise, it was Kristina standing there. I let her come in and she asked for Michael. I told her what happened and she said that she would call later and make sure everything was ok with her brother. Before she stepped out though, she said that she knew of my situation. I asked her what she meant and she told me that Michael had confided in her about Jake. My face got all hot and I almost burst out when she said "she could relate." I asked her what she meant and she told me she knew what it was like to be abandoned by her father and I realized she was right. Sonny had stayed away from Kristina to protect her, but I had learned from Carly a couple of weeks ago that Kristina was regretting that her father never loved her. I didn't want that to be mine and Jake's future, but I knew the possibility was strong and I was scared. She told me to be apart of his life and to let the fear that I had go. She said that was the best way for my son not to feel abandoned. She also told me to forgive Michael because it was his way of trying to help me through the pictures and getting to know my son for me. If on cue, the Honda pulled into the driveway and the Jack's stepped out and Morgan exclaimed about his blue cast. I signed it and told Carly that I had official business to take care of. She gave me a puzzled look, but I blew her off. Before I left, I took Michael aside and told him thanks. He asked "Are you going?" and I said "yeah."

I pulled up to the house and it was so late that I thought I should turn back. My hands were clammy and cold and I was sweating but something took over my body and led me to the door and ring the doorbell. Elizabeth answered the door with a surprised face and I kissed her passionately before letting go of her and walking inside. I walked into the living room and saw my boy sleeping peacefully on the couch with the his thumb in his mouth. I picked him up and he stirred awake, giving me a look before I said "It's ok Jake. Daddy's here."


End file.
